


Caboose Time

by Goodluckdetective (scorpiontales)



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiontales/pseuds/Goodluckdetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caboose, his powers, and why capes and cowls looked more fun on television.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caboose Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RenaRoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaRoo/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hero Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4993105) by [RenaRoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaRoo/pseuds/RenaRoo). 



> Based of Renaroo‘s fantastic Hero Time fic where the Freelancers are superheroes and everything is weird. This is my take on it, with her permission.

The first time Caboose showed his super-strength, he was four years old.

Caboose could remember the moment clearly, because it was important, and his memory could keep things clear if they were important. He’d been watching television at the time, some childhood program with rabbits and deer, sucking on a lollipop as he sat between two of his older sisters, the twins. The couch they were situated on was small, barely enough space for the three of them, and Caboose could still remember exactly how the leather under his legs stuck when it got too warm in their shack of a household.

“Mikey,” one of his sisters said, her eyebrow raised as one of the rabbits skidded across ice on the television. “Do we have to watch this? It’s boring.”

Caboose opened his mouth to reply, but his other sister beat him to it. High strung, and already in her rebellious phase at 12 years old, she tended to take any opportunity to fight, especially when it came to her twin. “Boring? It’s Bambi! It’s a classic.” 

“A classic we’ve watched over a thousand times.”

“We can’t have watched it over a thousand times; we’ve only had the tape since last month. Even if we watched it every second of the day, the math says-”

“Oh my God, you are such a loser.”

Caboose frowned, tucking his knees closer to his chest, and taking his sucker out of his mouth. His sister’s bickering was making it hard to focus on the television. “Guys, I wanna-”

“Who are you calling a loser?!” Caboose ducked just in time for his sister’s flailing hand to miss hitting him right in the face, but his lollipop wasn’t so lucky. He watched, horrified, as it fell to the ground below, rolling across the hardwood floor to land right under the couch. He yelped, his hands coming over his mouth.

“Oh no,” one of the twins said. “Mikey, jeeze, I’m sorry-”

It was too late. Big fat tears were already rolling down Caboose’s face, ugly and raw. The man would be an ugly crier as an adult, and his youth was the start of a long tradition of runny noses and blubbering. 

“Great, now you upset the baby!”

“He’s not a baby!”

Caboose crawled off the couch while the bickering started again, landing on the floor. He bent down to look under the couch, his eyes squinting to adjust to the lack of the light. He could see his lollipop well enough even in the intense shadow, lint, hair-ties, and dust scattered around it. If he reached maybe-

“Who cares? Mom is gonna kill us!”

“Not, Andromeda is gonna kill us first! Did you hear what she said to Daisy when she- oh no Michael, don’t try to grab that, it’s dirty.”

Caboose wasn’t listening. His hand was already stretched underneath the couch, fingers struggling to grab hold of the stick of his treat. His sisters were looking down at him, and one made an aborted attempt to pull him away from the couch. He swatted her hand away.

“Mikey, trust me you do not want to eat that. We can get you a new one.”

Caboose looked up, his arm still stuck under the couch. “But it’s cherry limited edition.”

One of the twins rolled her eyes. “It’s a sucker. You’re gonna just eat it anyway.”

“Lois!”

Caboose was back to ignoring them now. He reached a little farther, and let out a little huff when he realized his reach wasn’t long enough. He reached for the bottom of the sofa and his mouth twisted down into a small frown. Maybe if he pushed up enough, he’d be able to grab it. And then his sisters would stop fighting. 

He tightened his grip on the bottom of the sofa and lifted. It rose with ease, not much heavier than lifting his toy crate in his opinion, and with more room to maneuver, he swiped the sucker. As soon as his arm was in the clear, he let the sofa drop, ignoring the small scream that echoed from his sisters as it hit the ground. Triumphant, he lifted the lollipop in the air with a grin.

“Look, I got it!”

To his surprise, his sister’s looked less impressed and more shocked. Lois’ eyes had gone wider than Caboose had ever seen them, and her twin sister’s grip on the couch was so tight, her knuckles were white. Both of their mouths hung open, and if Caboose had some goldfish on him, he would have tried to see if he could throw one in. 

“Uh guys?” Caboose turned a little red. “Did I do something wrong?”

Lois was the first to speak. “Holy shit. You got Grandpa’s genes.” She winced a second later as her sister knocked her on the side of the head. “Sara!”

“You’re not suppose to swear in the house!”

“Mikey has superpowers, I can swear all I fucking want.”

“Ohhhhh, you said the f-word! I’m telling Mom!”

“Don’t you dare!”

Caboose looked at the two of them and shrugged. He wiped his sucker on his shorts and stuck it back in his mouth, satisfied with his part in the entire affair. 

“Oh my God, Mikey, that’s so gross!”

Twenty years later, Caboose would still consider this moment the start of his superhero career.

* * *

To say the Caboose family was a legacy family was inaccurate.

They had a tradition of having powers, that part was correct at least. As far back as the Caboose family tree went, there was a history of inhuman abilities, at least one powered family member per generation. But unlike most family legacies, the superpowers that infected the Caboose family were not the same every time. There was no shared superhero name that got passed down from generation from generation. Just the ability of super strength and a bonus power that varied from individual to individual. 

Caboose’s grandfather had gotten laser vision as his bonus. His mother had super speed along with her strength, though she almost never used it outside of housework. His cousin could turn glow if he wanted to. 

None of those power bonuses were what Caboose really wanted, though. From the moment he lifted that couch, he knew what power he wanted to inherit, what he wanted bestowed on him more than anything else in the world. And that power, was the same power his eldest sister had been blessed with.

Andromeda had wings and Caboose wanted a pair of his own more than anything else in the world.

The were beautiful wings, dark brown and black feathered things that matched Andromeda’s hair. Strong and powerful, they allowed his sister to take to the skies like the airplanes she so enjoyed watching fly over their house. Since they grew in when she turned ten, her feathers could be found almost everywhere around the house. When Caboose turned seven, he taped two of them on his back and jumped off the storage shed in the backyard to see if he could fly.

It was in this way that Caboose discovered his second power. Because if it wasn’t for his super-durability, he would have likely broken both legs.

“Jesus Mikey,” Andromeda said afterwards. She had been the unfortunate witness to his first flight attempt, arriving just in time to watch Caboose try to jump off a shed. Her panicked voice still rang in the seven year old’s ears. “That was so stupid.”

“Stupid?” Caboose knew that word far too well; his teachers seemed fond of using it when they thought he wasn’t listening. Andromeda’s shoulders fell and she let out a long sigh, taking a moment to stop looking for injuries to meet him in the eye. 

“Not you. What you did. There’s a difference.” 

Caboose looked down at his shoes. The laces were untied and for the fourth time this month, he wished they had enough money to get some with velcro. “I wanted to fly,” he muttered, kicking his heels together. 

“You can fly, buddy. You got an express ride with me whenever you want.” Andromeda smiled at him and pointed to her wings. They flapped once, causing his hair to get in his eyes. Caboose titled his head.

“Mom said you weren’t allowed to take people with you.”

“Mom doesn’t have to know everything. It can be our secret. One powered kid to another.” 

Caboose bit his lower lip. Lying was hard, but for a free flight. It might be worth it. “You promise, Freckles?”

Andromeda smiled, in the same way she always did when he used her nickname. “Promise.” She held out her hand in a fist. 

The resulting fist bump Caboose returned caused her to fall straight to the ground. 

“Remind me to teach you how to control your strength before we become a superpowered duo,” Andromeda said.

“Okay.” 

Andromeda held out her hand and Caboose took it. They headed back towards the house, and Caboose glanced up at his eldest sister. Her wings were relaxed and he watched as one of her feathers fell to the ground. “Hey Freckles?”

“Yeah, Mikey?”

“If you’re gonna be a superhero, you’re gonna need a name. Like Robin.”

Andromeda laughed. “I actually had something else in mind.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a button, placing it in Caboose’s hands. He recognized it at once; it was from the flight they took last September, something the pilot had given to all the kids on board. He focused on the letters and read it out loud.

“Thanks for Flying Flight 479.” There was a lisp in the numbers as he tried to pronounce them just right. “That’s long.”

“I was just gonna use the numbers, Mikey.”

Caboose frowned, running his thumb across the numbers. They seemed odd, almost terrible in an odd way. He gave the pin back to Andromeda and narrowed his eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want Robin?”

Andromeda just laughed.

* * *

When Caboose was seven years old, he wanted to power of flight.

When Caboose was twenty three, he wished for the power of prediction instead, if only so he could prevent the headline running across the television screen.

“Freelancer Superhero Team Declared Dead.”

The pin Andromeda gave him four years before felt heavy in his back pocket.  


End file.
